Time Management; You Are Doing It Wrong

By Hanan Awaad

Hanan Awaad PMP is the President and Founder of Corporita Inc., a Canadian training, consulting and communications firm based in the Waterloo Region and the Editor-in-Chief of Corporita Magazine.

In the era of the laptop-lifestyle, entrepreneurship, virtual management and the knowledge economy; if you still work long hours yet accomplish so little, then you are implementing the wrong time management technique. As our work environment is shifting the focus from the quantity of work to the quality of work, we have to reconsider how we value our time and prioritize every minute.

Are You Busy or Acting Busy

The first thing you need to reconsider to value your time right is to resist the temptation to look busy. Many people think that by pretending to be busy, others will perceive them as important. When you truly believe in the highly competitive business environment of today’s modern organization; piling tasks in your to-do lists does not guarantee success, especially when half of these tasks are non-value-adding tasks.

Master the Art of Detecting Inefficiencies

A wise management consultant I worked with many years ago once said to his team: “Now is not the time to work harder, it is the time to work smarter.” Sitting at your laptop for hours is not a sign of dedication. In many cases, long hours of working conceal tons of inefficiencies, poor work habits and ineffective business processes.
A simple process map will help you identify where those inefficiencies are. For example, if you struggle to find information, files or documents; if you receive excessive amount of emails that contain short sentences or even a one-word reply; or if you spend much time on manual processes that could be automated these signs might indicate that you need to really evaluate your business processes and the way you design and arrange your work environment.